Apollinaire Bleu
Tapestry after a cartoon by Jean Lurçat (1892-1966)
France, Aubusson, Atelier Pinton
20th century, 1958 (year of his retrospective at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris)
Signature in the left-hand corner braced to the workshop mark PF, which stands for Pinton frères.
Bolduc signed by the artist
Apollinaire was born in 1880 in Rome, he was in Paris in 1900 and frequented all the artistic avant-garde (Derain, Vlaminck, Max Jacob, Picasso, Duffy ...) In 1908, he signed a collection of poems: Bestiaire.
This collection of texts is to be put in parallel with Mes Domaines of Jean Lurçat, an illustrated work of 1948 (1st edition) and 1957, hymn to the animal kingdom.
Already around 1943, he weaves tributes to other poets: The Garden of Eluard, but also The Cock Tzara. In these two tapestries, we find associated the sun and the bird.
A copy of this tapestry is kept in one of the rooms of the Palace of the Presidency of the Ivory Coast.
Jean Lurçat was born in 1892 in Bruyère and died in 1966 in Saint Paul de Vence. Jean Lurçat started studying medicine but quickly abandoned this path. He meets Jean proved in Nancy, and then begins their collaboration. In 1912, he moves to Paris with his brother André (architect) and takes courses at the Colarossi Academy. There he met the great names of 20th century painting such as Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Auguste Renoir. Jean Lurçat began his textile adventure with the small stitch before concentrating on tapestry.
Jean Lurçat's woven work is masterful. The artist is internationally known and his name is closely associated with the revival of French tapestry in the post-war years. He is the most important painter and cartoonist of the 20th century. In 1947, Lurçat became President of the Association of Tapestry Cardboard Painters. The A.P.C.T. groups together the artists who participated most effectively in the Renaissance of the Tapestry, that is to say, who understood the absolute necessity not only to re-adopt the primary language of this essentially mural art, but also to proceed at the same time with the reorganisation of the industry on which it depends. "(Text of presentation of the A.P.C.T.)